Happy Holidays and Welcome the the Reader Rant Roundtable for December 2016

LET AMERICA BE AMERICA AGAINLangston Hughes, 1902 - 1967

Let America be America again.Let it be the dream it used to be.Let it be the pioneer on the plainSeeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—Let it be that great strong land of loveWhere never kings connive nor tyrants schemeThat any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where LibertyIs crowned with no false patriotic wreath,But opportunity is real, and life is free,Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There’s never been equality for me,Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars.I am the red man driven from the land,I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—And finding only the same old stupid planOf dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,Tangled in that ancient endless chainOf profit, power, gain, of grab the land!Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!Of work the men! Of take the pay!Of owning everything for one’s own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.I am the worker sold to the machine.I am the Negro, servant to you all.I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—Hungry yet today despite the dream.Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!I am the man who never got ahead,The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I’m the one who dreamt our basic dreamIn the Old World while still a serf of kings,Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,That even yet its mighty daring singsIn every brick and stone, in every furrow turnedThat’s made America the land it has become.O, I’m the man who sailed those early seasIn search of what I meant to be my home—For I’m the one who left dark Ireland’s shore,And Poland’s plain, and England’s grassy lea,And torn from Black Africa’s strand I cameTo build a “homeland of the free.”

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?Surely not me? The millions on relief today?The millions shot down when we strike?The millions who have nothing for our pay?For all the dreams we’ve dreamedAnd all the songs we’ve sungAnd all the hopes we’ve heldAnd all the flags we’ve hung,The millions who have nothing for our pay—Except the dream that’s almost dead today.

O, let America be America again—The land that never has been yet—And yet must be—the land where every man is free.The land that’s mine—the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME—Who made America,Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—The steel of freedom does not stain.From those who live like leeches on the people’s lives,We must take back our land again,America!

O, yes,I say it plain,America never was America to me,And yet I swear this oath—America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,We, the people, must redeemThe land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.The mountains and the endless plain—All, all the stretch of these great green states—And make America again!(Written in 1935 at the height of the Great Depression)

From the right.Can there be hope for a segment of America that thinks this way?

On a brighter note...Winter is coming, and with it the light returns. Days will be growing longer again as we wend our way towards Spring.

Adjust your sails folks, there are rocky shoals ahead and the winds have shifted.

Happy December, Ranters There is a new forum under Political Issues, grimly titled "The Trump Administration".It's all shiny and hasn't even been used yet, although existing Trump topics may wind up getting moved into it.In the meantime, anyone brave enough is cordially invited to be the first to introduce a New Topic!

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"The Left ones think I'm Right, the Right ones think I'm wrong."

Maybe we'll get a "Christmas miracle", and PA, WI and MI will all go to Clinton after the recount.

_________________________A well reasoned argument is like a diamond: impervious to corruption and crystal clear - and infinitely rarer.

Here, as elsewhere, people are outraged at what feels like a rigged game -- an economy that won't respond, a democracy that won't listen, and a financial sector that holds all the cards. - Robert Reich

Happy December, Ranters There is a new forum under Political Issues, grimly titled "The Trump Administration".It's all shiny and hasn't even been used yet, although existing Trump topics may wind up getting moved into it.In the meantime, anyone brave enough is cordially invited to be the first to introduce a New Topic!

Happy December, Ranters There is a new forum under Political Issues, grimly titled "The Trump Administration".It's all shiny and hasn't even been used yet, although existing Trump topics may wind up getting moved into it.In the meantime, anyone brave enough is cordially invited to be the first to introduce a New Topic!

Lots of repeated threads in that forum.

They've been moved.

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"The Left ones think I'm Right, the Right ones think I'm wrong."

Lots of gays, lesbians, and liberals are already armed and ready to defend themselves or their homes. People committing violent acts while yelling something about voting for Trump as justification, are still just as likely to die as they were before the election.

Trump voters should remember that there were over two million more Hillary voters out there. You are out-numbered.